And why, you may ask, is Works Well sporting a photo of a BMW Isetta bubblecar? Because an Isetta played a mildly memorable role in our family history and younger daughter (Occasional Speeder) bought me the model as a souvenir.I was working on MotorCycling in 1962 and our first daughter (Professional Bleeder) had just been born in Charing Cross Hospital in London. Despite its name the magazine also road-tested bubblecars and I was able to borrow an Isetta to pick up Mrs BB and the infant PB and take them home. The vehicle had a front opening door. Child-in-arms my wife sat on the bench seat – but on the wrong side! I closed the door to check she was comfortable and the steering wheel (attached to the inside of the door) began gently crushing the baby. But not fatally. As I say, a memorable moment and one regularly referred to on bibulous evenings.
GRANDSON Ian is staying with us. He does a lot of cooking for his mother PB (see above) and partner and has just broken his favourite kitchen knife. This 12.5 cm Taiku is the replacement which he chose and I paid for. He proved to be incredibly picky. Could have had a Sabatier but rejected it because the tip of the handle curls inward slightly and this he found unsuitable for his sensitive hand. Never mind. He cooks well.THE LOVE PROBLEM 54,441 words. What is the most lovable male profession? As previously recounted I opted for veterinarian hoping this would take me halfway there since I find it difficult doing lovable men. Even so it’s hard work. Certainly I don’t love him yet.
8 comments:
That bubble car model is highly desirable!
The one Sabatier I ever owned broke very quickly, the rivets rusting through, I think. Best knife ever is the Small Wooden Handled Knife bought on a market somewhere in the Loire valley to cut up mushrooms grown in the caves there to fry on a small camping gas stove, and still going strong. It was betimes used to fillet large trout almost still flipping, which was a little beyond its scope. I wouldn't mind a classy Japanese number though...
If you treat it well, a Kyocera ceramic knife is the best. You can't slam it down and you can't use it for cheese, but otherwise it's perfect.
Hmm. Lovable male professions. How about pre school or elementary teacher or high school music teacher?
Ian-san the cooking samurai! Banzai!
Lucy: I'm pleased to hear the Sabatier has an Achilles heel because it is frequently presented as the be-all and end-all. Mrs BB has a Prestige knife which pre-dates our marriage and which appeared to remain sharp for about thirty years; I then re-sharpened it (despite its serrated edge) and it continues to work well.
Hattie: As one who left school at age 15 and finally started on the laborious process (still not ended) of finding an education, I am not temperamentally suited to writing about teachers in a heroic mode.
RW (zS): His comment: "It's damned sharp."
Loveable male professions? Loveable MALE professions? What would Amelia Bloomer say? Or your heroine, come to that?
While Ian's knife appears to be all I could ask for in such a utensil - blade and tang all of one piece, precise point, appealing shape - it is the box in which it resides that has caught my attention. Two gifts in one!
Fed: professions that make men lovable, then. I've moved on a little since I posted and he is becoming more likeable. And Jana is starting to warm to him. But eventually he'll become a pure Arctic wind.
the Crow: I'm pretty sure he's taking the box too.
My mother (briefly) owned a BMW Isetta bubble car. Since she only had the use of one eye she found "range finding" and width judgement difficult, thus neatly removing both headlamps by trying for a too-narrow gap. Thereafter I used it and found it great fun (as did my two small kids), until one day a spirited gear change ( a metal rod sticking out of the right panel, if you remember) left me going at about 45 mph with said lever loose in my hand. A mole grip clamped to the broken stub got us home. Happy days!
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